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NYE was less busy for NZ ambulance crews this year than last; police praise crowds

January 1, 2020

Thousands headed onto the streets and out to party as New Zealand welcomed the New Year and the new decade. (Source: Other)

New Zealand ushered in the new decade with substantially less New Year's emergency ambulance call outs than last year.

St John told 1 NEWS there was a total of 332 emergency ambulance service (EAS) incidents between 10pm and 3am, compared to 388 over the same time period in 2018/2019. 

The five top busiest locations around the country for paramedics were Auckland Central with 14 cases, Whangamata with 11, Gisborne with 11, 10 in Napier and Queenstown with 10.

St John spokesperson Gerard Campbell said as a comparison to normal workload throughout the year, St John responded to an average of  162 EAS incidents per day between 10pm and 3am for the period between February and November 2019.

"This NYE, our three clinical communications centres across the country received 1089 calls between 6pm and 6am," said Mr Campbell. 

During peak period, from 12am to 1am, centres received 132 calls.

The top reasons for requiring an ambulance for the calls that did occur over New Year's Eve were unconsciousness/fainting, falls, breathing problems, GP referrals and assaults.

Mr Campbell said a lot of the activity was in the Coromandel - particularly at the Opoutere New Year's Eve concert on Joe’s Farm near Whangamata, and in Whitianga. 

There were also a few vehicle crashes across New Zealand, but police told 1 NEWS they were happy with crowd behaviour at gatherings and celebrations across the country.

Several thousand people gathered in Hagley Park in Christchurch to bring in the New Year and no issues were reported.

Across New Zealand, police say it was a good night overall and the majority of people were well behaved.

Southern District has reported it was a busy night in Dunedin and Queestown. Two people were arrested in Queenstown for disorderly behaviour and both were given a pre-charge warning.

In Auckland City, there were 12 arrests. The majority of them, poice said, were in relation to over consumption of alcohol. 

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